She, along with her team, had waited for its arrival since nabbing a coveted spot in Tigard-Tualatin School District's technology initiative.

This fall, those laptops will replace ordinary workbooks that the third-grade teachers would have ordered for their students.

Heath's team of five teachers is one of nine teams selected for the district's Digital Learning Collaborative, the second phase of a program that aims to foster innovative technology practices in the classroom.

The entire program was made possible by a $20 million bond measure passed last year, which included an $8 million "Bond-Funded Technology Plan."

The first phase was carried out during the 2011-12 school year. At that time, individual teachers submitted applications for technology tools – like iPads, laptops and Smart Boards – for their classrooms.

School Teams and Technology

Tigard-Tualatin School District awarded Apple technology to nine teams based on individual proposals. Here they are by school, grade and goal for technology in the classroom.

Elementary:

Alberta Rider Elementary, 2: iPads for writing and language development

Hazelbrook Middle School, 6: iPads for reading, social studies and language development

High school:

Tigard High School, 9-12: MacBook Airs for online science curricula

Tualatin High School, 9-12: MacBook Airs for writing, students with disabilities and English Language Learners

Under the second phase, teams of teachers submitted proposals specifying a key area of student learning – like reading, writing or science – and how they would use a specific technology tool to close the racial achievement gap in those areas, said Erin Lolich, the associate director of curriculum and instruction.

Lolich said each student in each class will receive his or her own device as part of the effort to close the achievement gap by providing equal access to technology.

Heath said her team submitted a proposal to work on third-grade writing skills because they felt it was an area of needed improvement.

She said at Tualatin Elementary, 51 percent of white students met or exceeded the state tests in writing as opposed to 7 percent of the school's minority population.

Her team proposed MacBook Airs because of the full keyboard, visual opportunities to organize writing, access to Google Documents and applications such as visual dictionaries, grammar and spelling prompts.

The multiple-viewer function on Google Documents can be used for peer editing and immediate feedback from the teacher.

Learning Specialist Rory Moore, who wrote the proposal for the Hazelbrook team, said they aim to close the achievement gap between the school's white students and Hispanic students using iPads for language development and differentiated teaching.

Moore, who teaches a 90-minute reading class with special education students, said the iPads can be tailored and personalized to fit each student's need as well as engaging for the students.

"These kids are so enamored with this technology," he said. "It's so much more stimulating than a workbook."

iBooks Author is one of the applications the teachers will use to help develop language skills.

The application allows students to create work using multimedia like photos, videos and interactive diagrams.

Moore also listed other phonics-based free applications on iPads, including Spelling Plus and visual dictionaries.

Leslie Kolb, along with her team at Durham Elementary, applied for iPads as well for the first grade and kindergarten classes.

The team's goal is to close the achievement gap in reading and writing early on by keeping students engaged.

"Kids have a wide range of ability when they start kindergarten but once they get behind, they play catch-up all year," she said. "iPads can be tailored for individualized instruction."

The three teachers said their teams have observed that students figure out the technology faster than the teachers.

Lolich said the district hired a technology coach, as part of the grant, who will hold professional development classes every month. But she said the teachers will also gain from the collaboration process outlined in the project.